1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for providing rewards or loyalty incentive programs to consumers, and more particularly to systems and methods for operating a loyalty incentive program using transaction cards to permit consumers to receive discounts without requiring a coupon to be redeemed.
2. Related Art
Loyalty incentive or reward programs are used as a form of highly customizable and targeted marketing. A loyalty program provider will attract customers who sign-up for a loyalty program. Shopping benefits such as discounts are offered to the customers by the provider. The provider then markets to merchants that the provider can bring customers to the merchant. For example, a loyalty program provider may approach a merchant, such as the clothing retailer GAP.®. Inc., with an offer to bring customers to the GAP.®. in exchange for a fee. The provider would then send a solicitation (via email or regular mail) to its customers offering, for example, a 10% discount coupon that may be redeemed at the GAP.®. on a particular day. The success of the solicitation can be assessed based on the number of coupons redeemed.
In such a loyalty solicitation, the merchant would pay the loyalty program provider a percentage of the sales (e.g., 10%) that result from the solicitation. The merchant benefits from the increased sales. The loyalty program provider benefits from the commission that it receives, and the customers benefit from the received discount.
There are several areas that could be improved in such traditional loyalty programs. For example, such traditional programs suffer from leakage. Leakage occurs when the merchant does not fully report sales resulting from the solicitation. Leakage results in loss revenues for the loyalty program provider. Further, administration of coupon redemption by a merchant is costly and requires training. What is needed is a system and method improving upon traditional loyalty programs.